James Pearce

James Pearce - Speaker and Event Host

Fascinating speaker and event host, James has spent two decades reporting on the world's biggest sports events for the BBC. An expert on the Olympics, he was in Rio in 2016, where he was reporting at his 9th Olympic Games

"James Pearce delivered a brilliant after dinner speech that gave our conference audience a fascinating insight into the world of the sports correspondent. A funny and fast paced session that revealed the pressures, near misses and occasional catastrophes that can go on behind the scenes when sport is reported on our TV screens. You‘ll never look at a sports reporter in the same way again! Great entertainment, and not just for the sports fan."

Expertise

Read more about James Pearce

James Pearce describes his job as a sports broadcaster as one of the best in the world, and it's easy to see why. He's spent the past two decades travelling the globe, reporting from all the biggest sports events, and interviewing all the biggest names.

In recent years his specialist subject has been London 2012. In his role as Olympics Correspondent, he lead the BBC's News coverage of the London Olympics and Paralympics all the way from 2001, when a 2012 bid was first discussed, through to the glorious Games of last summer. It was a job that took James to the heart of government. He's interviewed all four of the UK's most recent Prime Ministers. He was broadcasting live in Singapore in 2005, alongside Sue Barker, when London won the vote to host the Olympics and Paralympics

An expert on the Olympics, he was reporting at his 9th Olympic Games in Rio. He also played an important role with Team GB in the months leading up to their record breaking performance, running their media training programme and making sure that the British athletes were thoroughly prepared for their moment in the media spotlight.

He is a walking encyclopedia on sport, and a very engaging speaker. He's currently working with the England football players, coaching them on how to deliver better interviews. Not an easy challenge! James always has a good story to tell. Fascinating speaker and event host James was the BBC's Sports News Correspondent for over a decade. An expert on the London Olympics he was the BBC's Olympics Correspondent and reported on every twist and turn along the way as Lord Coe and his team first won the right to host the Games, and then set about delivering them.

James describes his job as a sports reporter as one of the best in the world, and it's easy to see why. He's spent the past two decades travelling the globe, reporting from all the biggest sports events, and interviewing all the biggest names.

He's reported on three World Cups, four Winter Olympics and four Summer Olympics, as well as a host of other big stories. During his career he's appeared on every national BBC Television and Radio News programme, from 'Breakfast TV' to 'Newsnight' and from Radio One to Radio Five Live. These days he's seen most regularly on the Six and Ten O'clock News.

The past ten years of James' career have been dominated by London 2012. He was the first broadcaster to report on the possibility of a London bid - that was back in 2000, a full three years before the bid was officially announced. He followed London's campaign every step of the way through to Singapore in 2005, when the IOC President Jacques Rogge finally opened the envelope and announced that the Olympics were going to "The city of London". James was in Singapore to present the BBC Television News coverage that day, and was one of only a handful of people to predict that London might actually defeat Paris.

Since 2005, James has combined his other responsibilities as a sports news correspondent with becoming the BBC's expert on all things Olympic. These days he seems to spend even more time in the Olympic Park than Lord Coe! If there's anything that he doesn't know about the London Games then it's probably not worth knowing. He's broken many of the biggest exclusives about London 2012, and in 2012 he became the 'must follow' sports journalist on Twitter for anybody trying to get their hands on elusive Olympic tickets and he was credited as helping thousands of British sports fans to find tickets on foreign European websites.

James has never had a problem being neutral when he's reported on top level football matches, as his team is Aldershot Town. Even he admits that that they're unlikely to trouble the Premier League's top teams any time soon, but some of his happiest childhood memories are from Saturday afternoons at the Recreation Ground.

His 20 years experience of presenting live BBC broadcasts make him the ideal man to keep an event running to time, and his good humour and wealth of amusing anecdotes will always leave the audience wanting more. The list of major conferences hosted by James in the past few months includes the 'International Sports Event Management Conference', the 'National Merchant Buying Society’s 2014 Conference' in Tenerife, the' UKactive Summit' and the 'United City Global Sports Summit'. During an after dinner speech you might hear about how James bumped into the Prime Minister while lost inside Number 10 Downing Street, had to walk out of an interview with one of Britain’s best known Olympic medallists, or found himself live on air with completely the wrong guest.

James also offers some superb alternative company entertainment including a hilarious Commentary Booth experience and an after dinner quiz tailored to the clients requirements.

Speeches

An entertaining speaker, James Pearce offers you an insight into what it has been like to be at the heart of British sport for twenty years, and he can spill the beans on some of the personalities he's come across during that time. He might tell you about how he walked out of an interview with Sir Bradley Wiggins, or how he once put a sportsman's identical twin brother on air by mistake. As a veteran of four Summer Olympics, three Winter Olympics, three Football World Cups, three Commonwealth Games and countless other major sports occasions, James is not short of a story or two. James tailors his speeches to each client's requirements.

Showreel

Testimonials

"James Pearce was an excellent host at the ukactive Summit. The health, sport and physical activity sector’s set piece political event of the year. He challenged our speakers, engaged our delegates and brought his own passion to the event, which led to it being a great success. We look forward to working with James in the future."

UK Active

"James played a key role as host for three experiential evenings at our International Sales Meeting in London for an audience of 400 guests from Asia Pacific, EMEA and the Americas. James’ role involved introducing and directing the overall flow for the three evenings and leading interviews as part of main stage content. James is a highly skilled communicator and a joy to have as part of our team in delivering a great sales meeting."

New Balance

"James was an excellent host for our 2014 Industry Conference in Tenerife, where over 400 delegates enjoyed his personal charm and attention to detail and some great stories, that made the whole event run smoothly and on time. He really went the extra mile with our delegates and spent a lot of time talking and mixing with everyone outside of the main conference hall, which really added to making the whole event more friendly and the most memorable conference ever. Thanks James!"